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How To Make A Minky Baby Blanket In 30 Minutes!

A few years ago I started noticing a trend in my life – people were having babies. Every few months I would get a birth announcement in the mail, a group text from an acquaintance or open Facebook to find a well-staged photo of a line of large, medium and small shoes usually attached to a cheesy tagline – “and then there were three…”

Facebook became a baby lookbook I could not escape. A newsfeed that was once foodies, exotic trips and funny dog videos seemed to overnight become a Pinterest board of nursery ideas and sonogram photos. The whiplash was a little scary, but after attending a few baby showers, I realized that this phenomenon was not a blip and it was not going away.

So what’s a girl to do? Embrace it. And that’s the story of how I got knocked up. Hahaha I’m kidding, I’m kidding. My husband and I are still mostly terrified of children and won’t be having our own for...a while. No, that’s the story of how I learned to make a baby blanket in 30 minutes.​

30 minutes, you say?!? Oh yes. It’s very simple, very easy, and very inexpensive. The best part about this blanket is that people assume it took you hours of time and planning. People also assume that it was personalized just for them. *maniacal grin*

Little do they know that you have a pile of baby blankets on reserve. (after learning how simple this technique is, you really will) So when others are handing over their gifts of rubber nipples and bizarre bugger-sucking contraptions, you will get to proudly unveil a soft homemade blankie wrapped up with a bow. Those baby showers just got a lot less unbearable, oui?​

Minky Blanket Supplies

1 yd. Cotton (Picking out this cotton fabric is the super fun part! The amount of quirky cute fabric out there is staggering, so don’t hold back! Be bold! Below are a few of my favorite online fabric shops. For a more detailed list of great online fabric shops, check out this blog post!)

6 Simple Steps to Make a Minky Baby Blanket

Make a small snip with your scissors and tear the cotton fabric on each side. This ensures that the corners of the fabric are perfectly square. Many times when you get fabric off the bolt, it is not cut on the grain and will look “wonky” – like a rhombus. By tearing the fabric, you get it back on the grain. (See Quilt Terms if you are unsure what the fabric grain is.)

Lay minky on the floor right side up and place the cotton on top, right side down. Trim the excess minky with your scissors.

Pin around the edges, every few inches, leaving a 6” gap on one side.

Sew a ½” seam around the edge EXCEPT for the 6” gap. Backstitch either side of the gap so it doesn’t rip during Step 5.

Stick your arm into the hole you created in Step 4, and flip the blanket inside out. At this stage it looks a bit like a pillow case. Poke the corners out with your fingers. Pin the edges down.

Start where the hole is, and sew a ¼” seam around the edges to finish your blanket. Backstitch where the seams connect to secure the thread.

And that’s it! You’ve just completed your baby blanket! The first one probably took you longer than 30 minutes, but once you have made it once, the second will go sooo much faster. And then the third...and the fourth...ahhhh! So many babies! 🙂

114 thoughts on “How To Make A Minky Baby Blanket In 30 Minutes!”

Abbysays:

I’m just in awe of this small world. My sister Anne and I just each bought our first sewing machines and have been slowly starting to learn the basics. I wanted to make baby shower gifts for friends of mine so I found your tutorial on Pinterest. After going through your website, I realized I “knew” you. I lived with Abby, Natalie’s little sister, in college and we visited Natalie in Chicago a couple of times. I always loved hearing Natalie talk about her best friend Suzy and how you made quilts. Just the smallest world. Well I’m off to buy material and try this Minky baby blanket out.

If you don’t want the cotton to shrink, you should pre-wash it. The two layers of fabric kind of slip around, but because the blanket isn’t very big, it only ads to the cuddliness – unlike a quilt which would need stabilizing stitches to hold the three layers together.

Hi Suzy….This is crazy 🙂 Today I bought this minky at the market….with a babyblanket in my mind….just when I’m looking around at pinterest for some additional ideas…I see your tutorial and this is just what I have in mind with this (black) minky! I’m going to make this blanket tonight..thank you so much for this great tutorial 🙂

Do you have any tips for working with minky fabric? I keep reading about how slippery it is, how it stretches when your work with it. I’m a little scared lol. I have a yard I bought for a baby blanket but it’s been just sitting there for months out of fear.

Not neccessary, but makes the job much easier. I walking foot allows the sewing machine to gently guide more fabric through the machine with less pressure than a simple presser foot – this lessens the tugging and pulling that can happen during quilting.

A crib sizes blanket is about 36″ x 52″ (See this post for details.). These instructions will make a blanket that is about 32″ x 38″ – a little smaller than a standard yard of fabric, depending on how much you lose when squaring up the sides.

Instead of yarn it looks like you will have to use something thinner, like a hand quilting or embroidery thread. One idea is to hand stick X’s instead of using yard ties. For all of my hand quilting I use DMC Pearl Cotton No.8 thread. A thinner option I like for hand-binding is Sulky No.12.

I have used wide satin binding on many of the minky blakets I’ve made and they look beautiful. Just within the last two years I started to embroider the baby’s name on the satin binding. It just adds that extra personal touch.

I’m just a small local seller in my hometown. I am just curious to know if I am selling my small blankets similar to yours for the right pricing. Could you say approximately how much you would charge just for the blanket? Thank you for sharing your tutorial. I learned a different technique.

I’ve never tried to sell minky blankets, but what I would do is add cost of materials + time. If materials cost about $15 and it takes you about 30 minutes to an hour to make a blanket, $25 – $40 is probably a good range.

Step 2 has you trimming the extra fabric – “Lay minky on the floor right side up and place the cotton on top, right side down. Trim the excess minky with your scissors.” However if you have excess after sewing your seam, trim the seam down to 1/2″.

Hi Suzy … thank you for this great tutorial!!! Can I ask you some questions? Would this be an idea for a “summer baby quilt”? I mean, when you say it is “light” … would the minky be cool enough for a summer month baby? Also, I was thinking of piecing the top … could I quilt a bit on top of the minky? Being that it has those cute bumps … I’ve never used it before and would just like to understand if it is possible. Thanks so much!

Minky is an interesting fabric. Although it is light, it is also pretty warm. I think it’s great for all seasons, but could be a little heavy for mid-summer weather. You can quilt on top of minky, just keep in mind that it shifts and stretches a lot. One suggestion would be to use ties rather than quilting. Or if you do machine quilt it, don’t quilt it very densely. What’s so great about minky is that it is soft. If you quilt it densely, like you might an all cotton quilt, it will lose it’s soft squishiness.

Hi, the blog is very informative. As we all know that baby blanket plays an important role in the baby life. Nice tips shared by you to make Minky baby blanket. Keep sharing more creative ideas like this.

Hi! I love this tutorial and all the comments and questions are very informative. I have a few questions.. i have a giant piece of mink (a little over the yard) that i would like to turn into a baby blanket instead of a quilt because as you stated i want it to be as cuddly as possible for baby. If i use pieced flannel instead of the cotton fabric will it still move and be as cuddly? Or would you recommend i instead use a piece of solid cuddle fabric since the mink has animal & alphabet print on it?

Ok. Now that I have read every comment pertaining to flannel…I have a gender neutral baby blanket on tap and found a high end flannel. Can I minky the back? I don’t want to prewash because I am a little under the gun on time! These 30 minute blankets make me look darn good at these baby showers!!! Will these fabrics work out together?

I have made a simple staggered brick top out of flannel and made this same quilt, just prewash your flannel, as it tends to shrink a bunch and the kinky will not. It was sooo cuddly, hard to give away.

I’m new to sewing and have only made decorative pillow coverings. I’m wanting to start making blankets as Christmas gifts. I came across this page and wondered what would be a decent size to make this similar blanket for an adult.

If you want to make this for an adult, I would suggest finding fabric that is wider than 42″ – possibly something over 50″ and get 1.5 – 2 yd. In many cases, chambray, denim and double gauze is wider than the classic 42″ for quilt-weight cotton.

I just finished three of these and am grateful minky is a forgiving fabric. I had a heck of a time keeping it from stretching beyond the cotton fabric. But they are lovely, and precision isn’t really needed, as they are loose and cozy.

Hello! I am planning on making a larger version of this for my son’s bed. I’m not a sewer, so I loved how simple this blanket appeared to be to do. Am I going to have any issues with it on a larger size? The cotton I’m purchasing is 42” wide and 72” long. I am wanting to make it as large as possible with that size of fabric. Just wondering if it will move around too much at that size? Thank you for the rest directions and your time!

I’ve never made a minky blanket on that scale, but as long as you completely sew the edges together, it will work. The fabric will shift similarly to the way a pillowcase shifts, but the integrity of the blanket will remain intact. I hope that answers your question!

After 8 HOURS and a WHOLE spool of thread and do EVERYTHING that was stated in the instructions. Tearing the material and EVERYTHING! I STILL CAN NOT GET IT TO SEW AT ALL! BRAND NEW SEWING MACHINE, WITH THE WALKING FOOT ATTACHED. So, I think this is nothing but a bunch of malarkey and lies! I wasted 30 dollars on minky material that after trying for 8 hours and getting NO WHERE! I threw that crap away. WILL NOT EVER TRY AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paula, dont let the fabric get the better of you. Walk away from the machine, have a cup of tea. Then go back and rethread your machine. Make sure your bobbin is in the right way. Maybe take the walking foot off and try with just the regular foot on a scrap piece of fabric. It could be that your tensions are off a bit. Always try stitching on a scrap of similar fabric before using the real fabric. You are not the only one that has thrown in the fabric, so to speak. I work for a fashion designer and I have to work with silk, chambray, satin, and all kinds of fancy one of a kind prints, do you know how many I have messed up?! I have messed up several expensive pieces but I havent let it get me down. I just recut a piece and then start again adjusting my error as I go 🙂

I love this blanket! I made it once last year and it turned out great, but for some reason this time my minky got super stretched and so it was puckering! Do you lengthen your stitch length? I had mine at 2.5 but then ended up going to 4 at the very end (using a walking foot). And how far apart are you pins? Sorry for neurotic sewer questions but if I’m gonna pump these out I wanna make em right! ;D Thanks for all your awesome tutorials and patterns Suzy!

Thank you for the tutorial! I followed the directions and have only to top stitch to finish a cute blanket for my nephew’s soon arriving baby girl. It looks like it’s going to be great! My question is about tearing the fabric- along the bias it tore very easily, but the other two sides did not. In fact, they pulled significantly and the pulling/warping did not completely go away after I ironed it. Was I doing something wrong? I’m looking forward to making more of these blankets, but would prefer that to not happen next time if it can be avoided! Thanks

When tearing fabric, you want to tear it on grain, not on the bias. This means tearing it on the weft and warp of the fabric. Basically, when fabric is woven together, there are vertical threads and horizontal threads that get woven in and out very tightly. Depending on how the fabric is made, sometimes the warp does not tear as easily as the weft, or vice versa. If you want to avoid that situation completely, skip the tearing and use a ruler, rotary cutter and mat OR fabric scissors to cut the fabric. Just be careful to square it up with a grid or ruler.

I was wondering if it had to be 100% cotton for the printed fabric? I am making a baby blanket for my friends who are refusing to find out the sex of the baby so they’re going with a bear theme and neutral browns until the baby is born. So far it has been difficult to find a pattern of brown bears that: 1. Isn’t so ugly it hurts. And 2. Is gender neutral enough. I found the perfect print but it is 100% polyester. Are there any other fabrics you can use on the side that isn’t minky that you can recommend?

Flannel would be nice and cozy. Also, you could try using a knit or jersey if you aren’t afraid of stretchy fabrics. Have you seen this bear fabric by Bonnie Christine? It was inspired by her son, but is gender neutral. Also totally adorable. 🙂

I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent trying to sew this 30-minute blanket. I get it all pinned and sew with my walking foot but it just keeps getting out of shape and have to repin and resew. Not sure if it’s the minky fabric I’m putting both pins and clips to hold the fabric. Frustrating! :>(

I want to make this blanket to match the baby room decor so I purchased a crib sheet. As it turns out, the sheet is 100% polyester. Can I use this with the minky? Will it cause static? I was hopiing to put a contrasting ruffle around this blanket.

If I were to do this by hand what stitch would you suggest? Do you mind to suggest needle type and thread? Or would you suggest the DMC mentioned above? Thank you so much for your time and the lovely tutorial.

When I tear or cut my flannel to square the fabric before cutting the design is “catiwompus” (not straight) with the grain. I know the reason is because the design is printed on, not woven in. How should I handle this?

Since the design seems to be printed off grain, I would square up the fabric based on the printed design rather than the grain. You can use a book, ruler, cutting board – anything that has a 90-degree edge and line that up with the fabric design. Then with scissors, cut your fabric rather than tear your fabric.

I love how simple and easy this sounds and can’t wait to give it a try. I figured if I wanted to make a bigger blanket than to just get a bigger size fabric. However, what if I want to add a border around it? What material should I use and how easy is that to do?

If you want to add a simple pieced border to just the top fabric, all you have to do is sew strips to each side. However, if you are thinking about a boarder that is more like a sham, that’s not hard, but a slightly different process. You will probably want to look up “sham tutorial.”

Hmmm…I’m not sure that would help since minky is so textured. You could try a running stitch around the perimeter to prevent stretching. With these simple blankets, though, precision don’t matter very much. Embrace the chaos! 😉

Hello there, I just made a fun blanket with this tutorial today! Thank you! I wanted to make one that’s a little bigger now (still for my baby) but I was wondering if you would recommend keeping the middle of the blanket together somehow if I make a bigger one? I know nothing about quilting so I wondered if there is an easy way. Or maybe it wouldn’t be necessary?

Loved the tutorial. I’m going to attempt this very soon. I’ve already got my walking foot attached. Just waiting for when I’ve got a free hour in my day. I may have to schedule it in! Will let you know how it goes. Thanks so much.

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